


When we were kids

by em4313



Category: Strictly Come Dancing RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22703128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/em4313/pseuds/em4313
Summary: A fic about families, mostly in the 2020 tour, featuring a lot of the pros and celebs.
Relationships: Amy Dowden & Karim Zeroual, Neil Jones & Alex Scott, Stacey Dooley/ Kevin Clifton
Kudos: 5





	1. Going on Tour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The families:
> 
> Oti, mum to Nancy
> 
> Luba, mum to Katya
> 
> Karen & David, parents to AJ and Janette
> 
> Kevin & Stacey, parents to Amy and Neil and Dianne
> 
> The rest are adults too like Graziano and Gorka and Nadiya etc

They are going on tour and everyone is excited because it is fun to be with each other constantly for a full month. The kids get to play while their parents are dancing so they are excited to be able to play with their friends every day.

The tour bus comes to pick the first lot up. Katya is wearing a pink backpack that looks like a pretty butterfly, it has a strap from it that Luba is holding to make sure she doesn’t run off as she is quite hyper. Nancy is a little older and very shy so she just holds her mommy’s hand. They board the bus quickly and Oti gets them a table seat, ushering Nancy in and helping her take off her coat.  
“Baby come on it is time to go” Luba gently tugs on the strap to get Katya to face her but the girl is distracted.  
“Pretty!” She says pointing up at the sky  
“Come on baby we need to get on the bus please we don’t have much time” Luba says but Katya is still distracted, she stands firmly in place even as Luba tries to pull her towards the bus.

“Pretty!” She says again, forcefully.  
“Okay say goodbye to the pretty sky” Luba says, Katya starts to tantrum so she picks her up and carries her onto the bus. She is screaming once they eventually get on and Luba places her down in the seat across from Oti.

“Noooooo!” Katya whines, she tries to take advantage of when Luba takes her backpack off to run off the bus. Thankfully, Nadiya was just getting on and catches her, picking her up.  
“Where are you heading trouble? We are staying on the bus” she tells her, gently bouncing the crying girl in her arms. The girl makes a loud noise and Nadiya holds her closer to rub her back.  
“Aww baby, that’s not a very good noise. You’re okay Auntie is here”

Nadiya carries her back towards where Luba is watching them, sitting down next to her best friend with Katya on her lap. The girl is sucking her thumb and only crying a little bit now.

“There, she is calmer now” Nadiya says and Luba breathes a sigh of relief

“She will settle down soon, she just gets nervous about new places” Luba says, reaching into the girls bag for a dummy which she passes over to her little one.

“I’m excited!” Nancy smiles and Oti gently strokes her hair from her face

“I know, you get to play with all your friends” Oti tells her

“And watch you dance mama!” She says with a big grin

“Yeah? You like watching mama dance?” Oti asks and the girl nods, getting out her doodle book for the journey as the coach starts off towards the next pick up point.

Karen, David, Aj and Janette join the bus at the next stop. The two adults greet their friends and though David isn’t a dancer he is travelling with them for a little bit so he can spend time with the kids and help whilst everyone is on stage.

Aj runs up to Katya, titling his head as he looks at her.

“Katty sad?” He asks Nadiya, who nods

“She was a little bit sad but I think now she just wants some quiet time”

“Oh....was gonna play” Aj frowns

“You guys can play soon, let Katya have some rest first bud” David tells him, guiding him over to their seats.

At the last pick up stop, everyone else gets on the coach. Kevin walks in, stopping to hug most people as he walks up towards the back. There’s a sudden flash of red hair and Dianne runs past him to sit in the very back seats.

“I beat you daddy!” She announces with a giggle “And Amy too! I won da race!”

Kevin looks back to see his younger daughter running much slower towards him, she trips on a step and lands on her face which makes her cry out. 

Thankfully Stacey is just behind and picks her up, holding her close and soothing her as she balances Neil on her other hip.

“It’s okay baby girl, you’re okay” she tells the crying four year old

“Dianne, you have to behave. Your sister copies what you do and if it’s dangerous for her she could get hurt” Kevin tells his older daughter who frowns and looks down shyly. He can see tears start to form in her eyes and wants to go comfort her but he can tell Stacey is struggling.

“Babe, I’ll take Neil and get him and Dianne settled so you look after Amy” he says, walking up to her.

“Cmon little man” he says as he scoops up the boy from Staceys arms to allow her to hold Amy properly. He walks to the back and sits Neil down before sitting himself down next to Dianne. The little girl leans into his side and he kisses her head.

“I’m sorry daddy I didn’t want to hurt sissy at all we was just having fun” Dianne says

“That’s okay baby I know you didn’t mean it, we just have to be extra careful with Amy because of her disability, she is more fragile and gets hurt easier than you”


	2. First Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meet the celebrities and their kids
> 
> Emma, mum to Alex
> 
> Kelvin, Otis husband, dad to Nancy
> 
> Catherine, mum to Karim 
> 
> Also: here are the ages. They might change at some point.
> 
> Amy is 4, Karim is 5, Neil is 6, AJ is 8, Alex is 7, Janette is 3, Nancy is 7, Katya is 5

They reach the venue for the first rehearsals, the professionals and the celebrities are meeting up for the first time this tour since the celebs took the train. 

Stacey is looking forward to hosting it, she is preparing her lines with Amy balanced on her hip. She sees a little boy with curly hair run up to her.

“Hello” she greets him and he squeals happily, clapping his hands. Amy watches him curiously whilst sucking on her thumb. He sticks his hand out to Stacey.

“I’m Karim! My mummy does dancing now!” he says, and Stacey shakes his hand

“You’re a polite little one” she praises him, ruffling his curls which makes him shake his head and giggle at her messing his hair up. He reaches his hand to Amy, which instantly makes Stacey a little nervous as she’s not sure how the girl will react. She’s about to try and explain to him when Amy takes his hand and shakes it.

“M’ amy” she mumbles quietly around her thumb, watching as Karims face breaks out into a huge grin

“Thats a pretty name” he giggles but then gets called away by his mum. Stacey is left in shock as Amy never normally opens up to people so quickly.

“That must be Catherine’s boy” she says, more to herself, but Amy giggles quietly

“You guys might get to play together huh?” She says to Amy who smiles.

In the green room, Neil is kicking a football around with AJ. They had asked Janette to be their goalkeeper but she wasn’t really very good at it, preferring to just sit on the floor in front of the goal and when the ball came towards her she started crying. So they were now using the goal on the other side.

AJ scores another goal and Neil sighs, stamping his feet.  
“Not fair! You always win!” He sulks. He storms off when AJ starts laughing, running straight into a girl he hadn’t seen before.

“Oh, sorry” he mumbles, looking up at her. She was very pretty and he temporarily loses his words.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you” she says, he realises that shes wearing hearing aids as she reaches a hand up to her ear. She gives him a small smile.

“I was just apologising, for running into you” he says, wondering why he was so suddenly overcome with nerves 

“Oh that’s okay! I wasn’t really looking where I was going, I was thinking about other stuff” she says, fiddling with the ends of her hair “You must’ve been in a hurry”

“Not really, just angry that AJ kept beating me at football” he rolls his eyes and she laughs softly, which he decides is now one of his favourite sounds.

“I love football, I’m one of the best in my classes” Alex smiles widely “I want to play professionally once I’m old enough” 

“Really? I don’t see a lot of girls playing football” Neil says

“I’m on a girls football team! And we’re just as good as boys! I can prove it” she looks to him with a mischievous glint in her eye

“Oh you’re on” he says, and turns back towards the playroom with Alex in tow.


	3. Lunchtime

They were all sat ready to eat lunch. Luba walked in with Katya and AJ immediately got up to see her. He always doted on katya, calling her his “second little sister” which was nice since she didn’t have siblings and also nice for Luba since she was a single mom and sometimes it was a struggle plus katya could be a handful it was nice that the others cared so much for her. AJ took the younger girls hand.

“Auntie Luba, I can help Katty get her food!” He said with a proud smile, though keeping an eye on his own plate as he didn’t trust Neil not to try and snatch his chocolate biscuit, though the boy seemed fairly distracted talking to Alex.

“Thank you AJ, you’re such a big help” Luba leant down to kiss his forehead and watched as he guided Katya over to the food and explained it all to her, he was so patient with her it really warmed Lubas heart to see how kind he was.

Janette was sat on Karen’s lap and Dianne was sat on Kevin’s lap too. Emma was sat next to Alex but mostly not interfering in her conversation with Neil unless the girl needed some help. Karim was sat on his own as Catherine had gone to take a call, he seemed a little bit lonely and Luba went to sit with him.

“Hey bud, hows your sandwich?” She asked with a small smile

“It’s nice!” He smiled back, his smile grew wider when Stacey walked in holding Amys hand. The little girl spotted him and tried to rush over, though she tripped.

“Careful baby, not so fast” Stacey said as she helped her up. She stayed behind Amy just in case she fell again but let the girl toddle over to Karim and Lubas table. They reached the table finally and Stacey lifted Amy up again.

“Hi Amy” Karim waved and smiled at her, she smiled back at him

“Okay, mommy needs to get some food” Stacey told her, she started crying as she wanted to stay with Karim “Baby you’ve been fed but mommy’s hungry”

“ill watch her for a little whilst you get some food” Luba offered, and Amy seemed to perk up a little at that. Stacey seemed a little unsure, she was very protective of her youngest daughter and kept close to her most of the time but she knew that Luba would look after her and it was nice that Amy had made a friend.

“Are you sure?” She asked Luba who nodded, then she turned to Amy “Would you like to sit with Auntie Luba baby?” 

Amy nodded happily, reaching her arms out to Luba. Stacey carefully transferred her into Lubas arms and smiled at the little girls happy giggling.


	4. Heart to Heart

They are in the break between a matinee and an evening performance. Stacey has a very sleep Amy cradled in her arms, gently rocking her and soothing her. She is sat in a comfy armchair with Emma sat on the sofa across from her.

“How are you enjoying it so far?” Stacey asks Emma, gently rubbing Amy’s back 

“It’s great, way more exciting than I ever thought. And I love that I get to bring Alex along with me as well” she says, smiling when the girl turns up. She looks sleepy and curls up next to her mum on the sofa. Emma strokes her hair.

“You want to sleep?” She asks, repeating it in sign as she knows Alex can struggle even more with her hearing when she’s tired “you can have a nap here, I’ll look after your aids if you want a nap” 

Alex nodded and took her hearing aids off, handing them to her mom before leaning up to her side and snuggling down comfily, falling asleep fairly quickly. Emma smiles a little and kisses her forehead before reaching for her bag to find the little case for Alex’s hearing aids to keep them safe.

“Can I ask you a question?” Stacey says, watching curiously as Emma sorted out the hearing aids and put them away. Emma then looks up and nods so Stacey continues  
“When you found out Alex was deaf, were you scared?” 

Emma thought it over a moment before answering. “I was scared of how people would treat her, if they would discriminate or if kids at school would bully her for being different. I was scared of the world not accepting her, though thankfully she’s fit right in at school. There are still some problems with bullies sure but those have mostly stemmed from her football rather than her deafness”

“I’m just worried....and I feel bad for worrying, as Amy is only four, but I couldn’t bear it if people won’t accept her into society because of her disability” Stacey looks at her little girl nestled in her arms, she just wants to protect her

“Stace, you are a fantastic mother. We may not have spent that much time together yet but it’s clear to see how much you adore your kids”


End file.
